About 100 people attended a town hall meeting last night to talk about the Dayton Public School District. At first glance, DPS students aren’t doing as well as other districts in the area.
The Ohio Department of Education put some Dayton schools toward the bottom of the list in 3rd grade reading assessments. Only 72 percent of students are graduating and kids aren’t progressing like they should between 4th and 8th grade. Dayton Public Schools have gotten Ds and Fs in its report card from the state.
But Superintendent Lori Ward says she’s trying to focus on areas where the schools have improved; like the third grade reading tests. In the 2012-2013 school years those students had an average assessment of 54.8 percent. For the following year it was up five percentage points. Now she wants parents to focus on those numbers with her.
“Because it’s really hard for the average parent to take a 24-page report card and say is my school doing really well. Are we growing or are we improving,” she said.
Ward says she also wants parents to help the district come up with ways to shift more money toward instruction. About 63 percent of the $193 million budget in 2014 went into the classroom. Ward says Dayton schools have some of the lowest paid teachers in the state and wants to see an increase in that piece of the budget.